Letters to the Editor

This is to all Day Out With Thomas the Tank Engine helpers. A big thank you to all the organizations, food vendors, Midland Railway members and Baldwin City volunteers for the superb job you all did to make 2009 Day Out With Thomas a success.

It takes approximately 125-130 persons a day to make Day Out With Thomas run smoothly. We’ve had many comments on how well all venues were handled.

Thanks, again, for the successful year in 2009.

Linda Ballinger

Event co-chair

To the editor:

Although institutions are being faced with making cuts in programs because of reduced government funding, it is important that school music programs are not part of theses cuts for a numerous amount of reasons.

One of the most important reasons why these cuts should not be directed toward music is because music is a cross-curricular subject. It can literally be used in every subject, or any aspect of education. Music can be used in mathematics with division of notes and rests, counting beats, rhythms, meters, and the notation. Geometric shapes may be studied through dance and counting. All mathematical principles may be integrated with music.

Music also integrates well with social studies. Music has historical, geographical and social perspectives. It also has a history that has unfolded with time, not to mention much of our nation’s history is told through music. Music can also be very scientific. The scientific aspect of music deals with sound and acoustics, anatomical functions such as breathing, and music and motion are related to muscles and skeletal structure.

Music is also a universal language. Language arts use musical integration with songs to tell the stories of past and present, it can be a from of reading, as well as writing.

Music is one of the school programs that are in jeopardy because of funding cuts, however, children deserve the opportunity to participate spontaneously, enthusiastically and completely in the various aspects of music. No other life experiences can bring more thrills, enjoyment, or feelings of individual worth and self-completeness than in some or

Comments

I appreciate your passion for music. But I disagree. Music should be cut completely from the education system. It's a waste of time and money. It should be a club or something funded entirely by the parents or students themselves.

We spent hundreds of dollars on music for our children when they were in school and they gained absolutely nothing they could utilize to help them earn a buck and survive. If a youngster is musically inclined or talented, they'll find a way to get lessons and move on.

Just like dancing. It's a talent, not a requirement to survive in the world. Want to play music? Do it on your own time...and quit forcing kids who hate it to participate.

As you may be aware, there is a line of educational research that provides empirical evidence of a broader connection between musical training and increased cognitive functioning.

Learning music appears to enhance performance on linear tasks (like reading and solving math problems) and non-linear tasks (like creative problem solving). To the extent these cognitive abilities might be used to survive or earn money, there may be some benefits to studying music.

In addition, music has historical and sociological aspects that are unique to the art form. To the extent that understanding one's own (or another person's) culture might be used to survive or earn money, there may be some benefits to studying music.

Lastly, many people would suggest that an appreciation of music improves the quality of one's life. Even if it did not enhance cognitive functioning or cultural understanding, music makes the world better from an aesthetic perspective. To me, that is sufficient reason to advocate for its maintenance in school curricula.

Thanks for taking the time to articulate your views and to place this topic before us for public discussion.